The following Press Release was sent to Olive Tree Genealogy by
Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Release First Searchable Online Records Collections From World Memory
Project
Information on Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi persecution
available online at no cost through efforts of World Memory Project
WASHINGTON, D.C./PROVO, Utah, November 2, 2011 – The
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and
Ancestry.com
announced that material from four Museum collections containing
information on more than 30,000 victims of Nazi persecution is now
available online
at Ancestry.com
and can be searched at no cost. The collections contain information on
thousands of individuals including displaced Jewish orphans; Czech Jews
deported to the
Terezin concentration camp and camps in occupied Poland; and French
victims of Nazi persecution.
The collections are being made available through the
World Memory Project,
launched in May 2011. The project is recruiting the public to help
build the world’s largest online resource on Jewish victims of the
Holocaust and millions of non-Jews who were targeted
for persecution by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, allowing
victims’ families and survivors themselves to discover missing chapters
of their history, learn the truth about the fate of their relatives and
honor those who were lost.
World
Memory Project contributors are continuously keying information that
will form new searchable databases of historical collections when
complete. To date, more than 2,100 contributors
from around the world have indexed almost 650,000 records. Anyone,
anywhere can contribute to the project by simply typing information from
historical records into the online database.
“World
Memory Project contributors are helping Holocaust survivors and their
families learn the truth about what happened to loved ones,” says Lisa
Yavnai, United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum WMP project leader. “It is an incredible gift that anyone can
give to those who survived the horrors of Nazi Germany. In a few
months, the contributors’ efforts have resulted in more online
searchable records than the Museum alone could have produced
in many years.”
The
World Memory Project utilizes proprietary software and project
management donated by Ancestry.com, which hosts its own online archival
project to transcribe historical records. Once
Museum records are transcribed, the indices are hosted exclusively on
Ancestry.com and are permanently free to search. The Museum provides
copies of documents upon request at no cost. The original documentation
remains in the Museum’s archival collection.
“We’ve
been inspired by the steadfast efforts of the thousands of contributors
who have in some cases spent hundreds of hours transcribing this
important material,” remarked Tim Sullivan,
CEO, Ancestry.com. “These early results would likely have taken years
without the dedication of the many individuals who have embraced the
mission of the World Memory Project.”
About the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
www.ushmm.org
A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred,
prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Federal support guarantees
the Museum’s permanent place on the National
Mall, and its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are
made possible by generous donors. For more information, visit
www.ushmm.org.
About Ancestry.com www.ancestry.com
Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) is the world's largest online family
history resource, with more than 1.7 million paying subscribers. More
than 7 billion records have been added to the site in the past 15 years.
Ancestry users have created more than 28 million
family trees containing over 2.8 billion profiles. Ancestry.com has
local Web sites directed at nine countries that help people discover,
preserve and share their family history, including its flagship Web site
at
www.ancestry.com.
is offering free access to its International Marriage Records collections.
Canadian Marriages collections available between Feb. 14th and 18th 2013
will be opening up all of their War of 1812
records to the public for free during June. This is in commemoration of
the 200th anniversary of the commencement of the war.
